Pop ETC (LP)

POP ETC

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$19.98

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Amoeba Review

As The Morning Benders, they won acclaim for their sardonic, shambling take on classic '60s pop, sort of like a low-budget Blur or a peppier Yo La Tengo. Now they are back and reconfigured as POP ETC., and ready to hit the big time. Frontman Chris Chu has rediscovered his love of Boyz II Men and New Edition, and this new album is soaked in synths and soul, in a postmodern way of course -- the Timberlake / R. Kelly tropes are deployed in hilariously deadpan ways. As with the beloved Benders, the songs are spacious, heartfelt and soaring, all the more so for being occasionally zapped with freaky R&B radio-isms. If Damon Albarn were trapped in the body of Justin Bieber, this is what it might sound like.